


Of Being Lost and Having Brains

by mercy_angel_09



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Autumn themes, Corn Mazes, Costume parties, F/M, Friendship, Halloween Themes, Humor, Kinda?, Romance, it's actually kinda funny, part time jobs, the ending is a mess because I didn't know how to end it, torturing Shiro but it's not angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 03:16:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12356325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercy_angel_09/pseuds/mercy_angel_09
Summary: Sometimes part time jobs must be suffered through. But sometimes there are unexpected perks.





	Of Being Lost and Having Brains

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Kallura Discord for a fall/celebration of season 4 fic...thing. Prompt was "scarecrow."
> 
> The ending his hella clunky because I didn't quite know how to end it. I literally went, "Ehhh, good enough," and called it quits. Also, endless thanks to Eastofthemoon and Sideshow_Ericka for dealing with my flailing on various chat platforms as I tried to avoid going with the obvious scarecrow reference, getting the costume references right, and trying to end this.
> 
> And I think I might have accidentally put some slight Pidgance. But like really super minor and you'll probably have to squint and tilt your head a little to see it.

Leaning forward, Keith studied his reflection in the mirror and sighed. It was good enough, he figured, since the bulk of his shift was going to be dark and most people probably wouldn’t care that his make-up wasn’t perfect. With one last check of his costume, Keith snagged his keys and headed for the door. The end of the night wouldn’t come soon enough.

Working a corn maze wasn’t Keith’s idea of fun, but he needed the extra money. The owner of the property had opted to capitalize on the nearby college campus and had deliberately incorporated the school’s lion mascot into the maze and then asked for help to run the corn maze over the weekends from the students. Initially Keith ignored the fliers advertising the work, but a series of unexpected expenses reared their ugly head and so Keith called and inquired as to what he’d have to do. Turned out he was going to be working in the maze itself, dressed as a creepy scarecrow, jumping out and scaring patrons. Easy, if not a little humiliating, work.

His roommate, a grad student by the name of Takashi Shirogane, thankfully found nothing amusing about Keith’s situation, aside from an occasional stanza of “If I Only Had a Brain” wafting from the living room. If anything, Shiro, as Keith took to calling him, understood all too well unexpected expenses, which was how he ended up regaling Keith with the story of how he ended working as a Beefcake Barista for a semester as an undergrad. So if the verses of “If I Only Had a Brain” went too long, Keith would then “accidentally” play something off the _Magic Mike_ soundtrack and Shiro would stop.

“What time are you getting back?” Shiro asked, not bothering to look up from the massive textbook in his lap.

“I don’t know. Late,” Keith shrugged. “Technically my shift ends at midnight.”

Shiro looked up, “But?”

“Depends on if there are still people in the maze,” Keith replied. “In which case I have to guide them out.”

“Just remember to-“

“If you say follow the yellow brick road I’m going to spit in your food the next time it’s my turn to make dinner,” Keith grumbled.

“Let me know if you’re going to be any later than an hour,” Shiro said with a sly grin that indicated that he’d purposefully led Keith to that conclusion with the intent of switching. “Have fun.”

Keith grunted before shutting the door behind him.

The field with the corn maze was located about fifteen miles from Keith and Shiro’s apartment. There was a small lot where staff could park, the larger lot out front for paying customers. Aside from the maze there was a snack stand selling cotton candy, candied apples, and hot apple cider, a varied assortment of carnival games, and a small area that had been decorated with a tub of props off to the side for photo ops. Keith supposed that it could be worse – he could be stuck manning one of the carnival games or the snack booth and have to deal with people all night instead of intermittently when they wandered into his section of the maze.

With several minutes until the official start of his shift, Keith wandered towards the front lot with the maze entrance and got in line at the snack stand. There was a nip in the air that layers of denim, flannel, and raffia didn’t quite keep out and a cup of spiced cider seemed like just the thing to warm him up. When he reached the counter he placed his order, paid, and then stood off to the side to wait for his drink.

“It’s gonna be a cold one tonight,” the girl said as she handed him the cup with his drink.

“I’ve got warmers in my pockets to put in my boots and gloves once it really starts getting chilly,” Keith told her. “I’d wear a coat but…”

She nodded sympathetically. “At least we’ve got the food warmers in here to huddle by. If you need a warm up on your break, let us know.”

“Will do,” he said before taking a sip and sighing as the heat spread through him.

Turning, he headed towards the entrance of the maze, but nearly mowed down a guest in the process. She was beautiful with long, white blond hair, dark skin, and shimmering blue eyes. She was dressed up, as a good number of maze attendees were, but he didn’t know from what.

“Oh, sorry,” he said as he reached out to steady her.

“Yes, well,” she said, her eyes raking over him. “No harm done.”

“Hey, Allura, wait!” a girl called as she trotted up to them.

Allura turned to look at the group that was approaching and Keith was fairly certain that he recognized a few of them. He was fairly certain the guy in the tights and the wizard hat was in his weights class. He was always trying to one up him, for whatever reason. The other two he couldn’t place but he had a niggling feeling that he’d seen them around campus.

“I didn’t think you that eager to do this,” the guy in the tights and the wizard hat said. He stopped, studied Keith for a moment before pointing and yelping, “You!”

“What about me?” Keith asked.

“What are you-“

“Hey Keith, better get to your post!” one of the other maze employees called as they trotted towards the entrance.

“Yeah, I know! In a minute, I’m helping guests!” he called back. It wasn’t the truth, but it wasn’t a total lie either.

His coworker shrugged before nodding at the security guy stationed at the entrance to the maze and disappearing among the stalks of corn. Keith returned his attention to the quartet that was dressed, he assumed, as a group. “Lance right?” he said, pleased that he’d remembered when the guy in the tights and the wizard hat nodded. “Nice tights.”

“Shouldn’t you be out in the field with a stick up your butt?” Lance shot back.

The large guy in the butterfly costume stepped between them, heading off a fight before it could get started. “Hi! I’m Hunk. What’s the average amount of time it takes to get through the maze?”

Keith blinked. “Uh, most guests average about an hour and a half to two hours.”

“Okay, so it’s not super difficult?” Hunk asked.

“Oh, uh, no,” Keith answered.

“Is it really dark?” the younger girl asked as she adjusted her wrap.

“Yeah, kinda,” he replied. “Did you bring flashlights?”

“We’re prepared,” Allura said with a smile. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“No problem,” Keith said. He jerked his thumb towards the maze entrance. “I gotta…go. Maybe I’ll see you in there.”

“Count on it,” Lance said, crossing his arms against his chest and glaring at Keith. Considering his getup, it wasn’t particularly intimidating.

Rolling his eyes, Keith headed towards the maze entrance. He nodded at Varkon, who gave him a small salute as he walked by. “Hey, Varkon.”

“Good evening, Keith! Everything is quiet,” Varkon answered.

“Good to know,” Keith said as he followed the now familiar route to where he would prowl to try and scare visitors.

A very slow hour later, Keith heard voices approaching his section.

“We’re lost.”

“We’re not lost.”

“We’re in a maze; the whole point is to be lost.”

“I should have gotten a snack before we came in here.”

Keith chuckled. He’d heard a whole range of things while manning his portion of the maze. Football was a common theme, as were future party plans, homework assignments, odd holiday anecdotes, and of course bickering as to how lost they were.

Pressing himself into the shadows of the corn stalks, Keith waited as the voices got louder. It was Lance’s group, and Keith smirked as he relished the idea of scaring the other boy witless. Quieting, he saw they turn the corner and he waited until Lance was closer before jumping out, yelling. “Graaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“KEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

There was something satisfying in the knowledge that Lance screamed like a little kid when scared.

The others in the group let out yelps of shock and surprise, Allura losing her footing and pitching forward. Without even thinking Keith stepped forward to catch her, her body slamming against his chest. “Are you okay?”

She let out a small groan. “I think so.” Righting herself, she pulled back from Keith before wincing and shifting her weight to one leg. “Or maybe not.”

Kneeling, Keith directed Hunk to shine a flashlight at Allura’s feet. He removed his gloves before gently lifting the hem of Allura’s dress to check her ankle. It wasn’t showing any signs of bruising or swelling, but the injury was still fresh. “Maybe you wrenched it?”

“A possibility. There’s a divot in the path, I must have stepped in it,” Allura said with a sigh.

“I’ll take you out. There’s a med tent in case of accidents. They can look you over there and determine if you need a doctor or an ice pack,” Keith said as he stood up.

Nodding, Allura bit her lip to keep her tears at bay. “I’m so sorry, everyone. I’ve ruined our night.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Lance said, waving her apology off. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Yeah, we’ve got that big costume party on campus next weekend. This was just a way to waste an evening we’d be otherwise holed up in one of our dorm rooms marathoning the Evil Dead trilogy again,” Pidge replied.

Keith turned around and squatted. “Here, climb on. You probably shouldn’t be walking on the off chance you do have a serious injury.”

“Thank you,” Allura said as she climbed on. Keith was warm, and his body heat was welcome considering the flimsy material of her dress and cloak. “I’m sorry that I’ve ruined your evening as well.”

Keith shrugged. “It’s fine. Part of why I’m here.”

“Yeah, he’s just doing his job,” Lance said and Keith was certain the other boy was glaring at him. “This isn’t anything special.”

Allura giggled softly. “Still, I do appreciate this.”

For the first time ever, Keith was thankful for the heavy makeup and the darkness of the maze that hid his rising blush.

They chatted about school as he led them through, comparing classes and professors. Keith learned that he and Allura had a mid-day break at the same time and he tentatively agreed to meet up with her for lunch on Monday. Twenty minutes later, as they walked out of the maze, Keith had a tentative lunch date with Allura, a study session lined up with Pidge and Hunk, and he had grudgingly agreed to help Lance work on his form in weights class. He hadn’t really made any friends at school since he started there two years ago, and in the span of a single night found a social group.

It was weird.

Pleasant. But weird.

When Allura’s ankle was checked out and declared wrenched but otherwise uninjured, they parted ways. But not before Keith was invited to join them at the campus costume party the next weekend. Since the maze would be closed that weekend, Keith agreed.

Which was how he ended up startling Shiro by storming into their apartment at twelve-thirty in the morning and declaring, “I need you to make me a prince.”

Shiro blinked. “Say what now?”

“I need you to make me a prince.”

“Okay, clearly I’ve been studying too long without a break because it sounds like you just asked me to make you a prince,” Shiro said as he rose from the couch.

“Because I did.”

Silence stretched between them until Keith blurted, “I met a girl and we’re going to a costume party.”

“Wow, remind me to thank the Great and Powerful Oz.”

“Augh! Shiro, not helping! What do I do? I’m not built for this!”

“Take a deep breath, Keith. So what kind of prince do you have to be?”

“Uh, Prince Lir? From some movie called _The Last Unicorn_. Can you help me or not?”

“Yeah, I can help you. So open invitation for the costume party or is this a private affair you managed to snag an invite to?” Shiro asked as he steered Keith towards his bedroom.

“The costume party they’re holding in the Koplar Union Building on campus.”

Shiro nodded. “I wasn’t planning on going, but this I’ve gotta see…”

One week later Keith walked through the decorated double doors of the KUB and looked over the mass of students milling around. Allura and her group were around somewhere, dressed in their costumes from the corn maze the week before. Next to him Shiro adjusted his costume before scanning the room. “So, do you see them?”

“Not yet. Let’s walk around and see if they’re off to the side somewhere,” Keith said. “C’mon.”

They walked through the room, Shiro greeting classmates as Keith desperately looked for Allura. Their lunch date had been pleasant and he found that he like spending time with her. Not one for big crowds or social interaction, Keith had never put much effort into making friends. However he found that he clicked with Allura, Hunk, Pidge, and surprisingly Lance. Once the other boy stopped making everything a competition they actually got along quite well.

“Hey, is that them?” Shiro asked as he tapped Keith’s shoulder.

Looking at where Shiro was pointing, Keith nodded. “That’s them.”

Shiro chuckled when he noticed the way Keith’s eyes remained locked on the woman with the long white blonde hair. “Just remember to use your brain.”

“Hey!” Keith cried in indignation.

“Hi! Nice to meet you!” Shiro said as they walked up to Allura and the others. “I’m Keith’s roommate, Takashi Shirogane.”

The girl dressed as Molly Grue gasped. “You’re Takashi Shirogane?”

Shiro blinked. “Er, yes?”

“Sorry, I’m Katie Holt, you know my brother Matt,” she said.

“Ahh, I thought I noticed the resemblance. Nice to meet you,” he said. “I’ve heard about you.”

Pidge let out a nervous squeak. “Don’t believe all of it.”

Shiro grinned. “Fair enough.”

“I’m glad you made it,” Allura said, smiling at Keith. “I kind of miss the scarecrow, though.”

“I don’t,” Keith answered, but his face was flushed in pleasure.

“Would you like to dance?” she asked, indicating to the dance floor where a handful of students were swaying to the song blasting over the speakers.

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Keith said, offering Allura his elbow so he could escort her out to the dance floor.

“Aww, that’s nice,” Shiro said with a grin.

“So,” Lance said, eyeing Shiro’s costume, “who are you supposed to be?”

“Oh, uh, I had already planned on being Zorro for Halloween, so rather than trying to edge in on the group I just stuck with what I had. Turning Keith into Prince Lir…wasn’t easy,” Shiro answered. “But I think worth it.”

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed as they watched Keith and Allura dance. “They both look really happy.”

“I think they look like friends having a good time,” Lance grumbled.

“C’mon Lance,” Pidge said, grabbing his hand. “I can’t promise that your toes will end up unscathed but we might as well give it a go.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Lance said, allowing her to tug him out to the dance floor.

Shiro and Hunk shared a glance and then shrugged. “Wanna go check out the food?” Shiro asked.

“Oh heck yeah,” Hunk said, his turn causing his wings to flutter dramatically.

Smiling, Shiro made a dramatic turn himself to send his cape flying out behind him as he followed Hunk to the refreshment tables. An unexpected, yet pleasant, turn of events. No Yellow Brick Road necessary.

**Author's Note:**

> The Koplar Union Building is named after World Events Productions President and CEO Ted Koplar who is the man responsible for bringing Voltron to the world back in 1984.


End file.
